2014.09.26 - Lightning in the Night
It is not normal the Guardians of the Universe contact Jennie-Lynn. In fact, it is only the second time, and this time they didn’t even had to courtesy of sending her a real ring. Apparently there is no available Green Lantern in a million light-years around. Quite the oversight considering sector 2814 has produced more lanterns recently than the next five sectors combined. But... they are all busy with some supernova in the Andromeda Galaxy. Meanwhile, some energy readings have fired some alarms in Oa. Apparently the Qwardians are up to no good. And although it shouldn’t be possible for them to reach the positive energy universe, but it looks they are about to do so. They gave Jade some coordinates and asked her to investigate. Well, maybe ‘ask’ is not the right word. The Oans request tend to sound like commands from God. The coordinates correspond to Mesoamerican ruins in Mexico. A nice place for tourists, but given it is 2 am local time there is no one around. Shouldn’t be some security people? Apparently not. Rachel receives a call too, but it is through her Passport. And it is Cosmo’s friendly ‘voice’. Not his voice, obviously, since Cosmo doesn’t talk. But the Passport somehow manages to translate his telepathic speech into English, keeping all the funky Russian-dog accent. Looks like there is a rift about to form in Mexico and she is the only Guardian on planet. If she needs help, though, Cosmo will come to lend a hand... paw? A while ago, one Jennifer-Lynn Hayden was settled in her nice warm bed, she was cuddled up with an overstuffed pillow, smooth downy comforter, and had full intentions on sleeping the entire night through. Except. Things just never quite happen the way you want it to happen, now does it? When Oa says go, you go, even if you're not really a Green Lantern, even if you've only been called once. No. When emergencies happen, and the little tiny annoyingly bossy blue guys say 'NOW', you have to say 'OKAY!' It is this reason there's a glowing green rocket zooming towards the Mexican ruins. The rocket is, literally, a rocket - at least in shape and size. Granted, it's being formed from the palm of a green-skinned woman who's currently dressed in a very tight skinned white and green uniform. Still, the shape is unmistakable in its form, it's a green rocket, complete with exhaust out the back, and Jenny's figure seated inside. As the ruins are approached, the rocket dissipates into just a glowing green orb about the figure, hovering over the coordinates the annoying blue smurfs gave her. "Hal, no. Kyle. No. John, No. That annoying red-head, No." Yes, she is talking to herself, even as her eyes take in the dilapidated ruins about her. "If this is a hoax, I'm flying directly to Oa and " Her words drop off as her thoughts take over where her words fail. Rachel Summers isn't the type who's always tucked up in bed by 10pm. But even for her, 3am in the morning is late, and she's asleep when the call comes in through her Passport bracelet. Asleep and, for once, in the middle of a pretty good dream. Given the choice, she'd probably prefer to sleep right through the call, but she's been a light sleeper for too long to change now. "Wha?" Is her first, brilliant response when the Passport's signal wakes her up, and for a few seconds she stares stupidly at it while her brain gets up to speed and reminds her what it is. Finally she manages to fumble for the right button. "All right, I'm up, what is it...?" "What?" "Where's Adam?" "What about...?" "They're just not answering, are they?" "OK, OK, I'm going..." Rachel rolls out of bed, despite her protestations now very much awake. She rakes a hand back through her hair, stretching the other arm above her head - and by the time she drops it to her side, her powers have furnished her with her red and yellow X-Men uniform. Shrugging into her spiked leather jacket, Rachel has a last yawn, and then hits the control on her Passport. Rachel arrives over the ruins, her powers flaring into life around her to suspend her in the sky - and she's instantly aware that she's not alone. She spins around, rotating in mid-air to face the green figure who's /also/ hovering over the area - and she's just close enough to catch just a few of the words the very green woman says. << I'm pretty sure we've never met. >> An amused voice says as it arrives in the other woman's mind. << But you're talking like you know me already. >> It's fairly obvious that the voice belongs to the figure that wasn't there a moment ago, standing on nothing with her arms folded - with very red hair indeed. Considering Jen's about to start a sweep of her powers across the area - it comes as a smidge of a surprise to 'hear' a voice not spoken aloud, but through all of Jen's senses, coming directly from her head. "Woah." Is Jennie's ever so eloquent response, at least at first. Turning her attention towards the red-head then, the green skinned woman lets out a quiet laugh, good natured and humored tone echoing through her voice. "Aren't all red-heads annoying?" The twinkle to her green gems, and the wide grin to her features, offer a tone of teasing. She doesn't recognize the girl, nor the clothing she wears. Still, none of Jen's 'aaaaah I'm in danger' senses are going off, leaving the wielder of the Starheart to make a wild guess. "Where you sent here by little annoying blue smurfs from the Planet Oa?" The green woman's surprise tells Rachel that whatever else she might be, she's no telepath. And it would be a lie to say the redhead isn't wearing a small smile at having caused that reaction. She's not completely unguarded - after all, she's here to deal with something dangerous and she wasn't expecting company - but the telepath's light scanning isn't picking up any hostility, nothing to suggest she's about to find herself under attack. Rachel switches to conventional speech to answer the other woman's question. "So I'm told, but I just can't see it." She replies, her tone just as light now as it was in the other woman's head, but there's a watchfulness in her eyes to go along with her obvious amusement. She snorts and shakes her head when smurfs are mentioned. "No, I was sent here by a telepathic Russian space dog." She sound absolutely, utterly serious, and despite her abilities, she also looks entirely human. And she's not bothered at all by talking to someone as green as the other woman. Rachel's head tilts to one side fractionally, the look in her eyes becoming appraising. "I'm Rachel Summers, and I'm here because a rift in the fabric of space and time's about to form somewhere around here." Again, she sounds utterly serious, although there's a slight hint that she can't quite believe her own words. "Know anything about that?" The late summer night is still quite warm this far south, the sky is clear but the moon is new, so it is quite dark and the ruins are mostly dark grey and shadows. Rachel can feel a few minds moving among those shadows. Night shift guards, perhaps. But they are hard to focus in. Suddenly, there is a flash of yellow and red on the top of an ancient pyramid, like a brief spark of weird lightning. For a rift, it seems pretty small and brief. But those things are deceptive and treacherous, aren’t they? Telepathic Russian Space Dog? The expression of surprise on Jennie's face is, perhaps, priceless, as is the repetition of that particular phrase several times over in her head, just to make sure she heard Rachel correctly. Well, why not? Ganthet's a white haired, tiny, blue skinned God-Like entity from a different planet, why not a telepathic Russian Space Dog. Although, Jennie does make a mental note, this she has to see some day. SOON. As Rachel gets down to business, Jennie does manage to get out, "Jade. Names Jade. And all I know is what Ganthet told me. Apparently the Qwardians are up to no good. And although it shouldn't be possible for them to reach the positive energy universe, they're doing so." Of this, Jade quotes nearly exactly from what the bossy blue smurf said. "Now, granted." She begins. "I have no idea exactly what that means, but it sounds like a very bad thing." And this, Jennie states with extreme humility and honestly. She doesn't know what it means, but it sounds bad, especially if it's bad enough for Ganthet to send HER down and not tear another Green Lantern away, who might not make it to Earth in time. The sudden spark of lightning from the pyramid catches Jen's attention with a snap of her head. "So the thoughts in my head, that came from you - telepath, like the Russian space dog? You don't SOUND Russian by the way. Anyway. Any thoughts near that pyramid, innocents that need to be rescued?" Even as Jade says this, she's moving forward just a smidge, wearily looking things over not just with her eyes, but a slight feeler of green energy is also sent into the location. There is something, or someone, that has materialized... or rather, crossed over on the lightning. Rachel feels an alien mind, disoriented, but recovering quickly. Jade feels that, well, reality is thin in the area. In fact, it feels like nothing else she has felt, but that is the general impression. Rachel can see Jade's reaction, of course, but even better is experiencing it telepathically. She's been the slack-jawed tourist so many times during her brief association with the Guardians of the Galaxy that it's oddly satisfying to have someone else be the one who's surprised. She's definitely smiling now, a bit of a smirk seeming to have become a permanent part of her expression, but she gives Jade an amiable nod of acknowledgement when she offers her name. Of course, Rachel's feeling that she's got the upper hand in the conversation lasts as long as it takes Jade to bring up Qwardians and positive energy universes. She's starting to look a bit glassy-eyed by the time that Jade admits that she doesn't know what she's talking about either. Rachel almost laughs, but she's experienced enough of these rifts to know that they're usually Bad News. "Yeah. It usually is." She agrees, before her head turns sharply around at the appearance of the strange lightning. "And something tells me here's our very bad thing now..." Rachel says in a low tone, starting to reach out with her powers, and hesitating when Jade speaks again. She looks back, and flashes a quick grin. "I'm not a dog, either." She points out, then nods. "But I'm a telepath." The grin makes a reappearance. "Take a look." She says, somehow unable to avoid showing off - and Jade will suddenly have all of the minds below picked out for her as glowing points on a mental map. No sooner has Rachel done that, though, than she frowns. "There's someone... something... else down there." She hesitates, but only for a moment. "I'm going down there." She doesn't wait for a reply, and is suddenly a streak of red-gold flame heading for the pyramid, probing out ahead of her with her mind. There is an armored humanoid struggling to stand and as Rachel approaches all gold and flame, he tries to seek cover among the broken stairs of the pyramid. And as Rachel comes closer, lightning leaps up towards her from three different points among the ruins! "This is true." Offers Jen's response to the fact Rachel is not a dog, still, she has to be extremely impressed by the sudden exhibition of power that Rachel displays, showing Jennie exactly what is down below, at least as far as the dots of minds that litter the area. A plan. That's exactly what is needed right now, they need a plan of attack and action. Who knows how many others have suddenly emerged from this portal, who knows WHAT exactly they might be either. Now if Jennie had a lantern ring that could actually TELL her about who or what these individuals are, she might have a better idea on how to combat them. Thus, timing, and patience, and figuring out what to do next and ... Rachel's shooting downward like a great fiery (and impulsive) bird. "Buh...." Once again, Jennie's ever so eloquent response is given to the streak of fire that storms the pyramid. Now, Jennie isn't as fast as lightning, but her powers damn near are, and as Rachel barrels towards the pyramid, the redhead will suddenly find herself in a green glowing car. It isn't enough to completely protect her from actual lightning, but the design of the green energy is, in theory, supposed to keep the lightning on the outside, and not on Rachel's /insides/. In theory at least. A plan? Rachel's never been one for plans, she's always been too impulsive. To quick to react, trusting to her powers to protect her from her own recklessness. Up until now she's had Adam Warlock around in these situations, and looked to him to give her the nod before diving in. This time... she doesn't have that. So she jumped right in, and now she has lightning bolts to contend with. And then, everything goes... green? For a moment, Rachel assumes this is another form of attack, and she instinctively calls on her powers, intending to unleash a blast to shatter whatever's confining her - but she realises a moment before she cuts loose that she's less confined... and more protected. And since none of her team have (frankly bizarre) powers like that... << I owe you one. >> Once again, the redhead's voice echoes within Jade's skull. << Watch my back, I'm going in closer. >> There's a sense from Rachel that she's banking on the lightning-fire stopping once she's too close to the individual it's intended to protect. In any case, she's bailing out of the car as soon as she judges she's low enough, throwing up a telekinetic shield as she skims low over the stones of the pyramid, casting forward with her mind again. << Hey! >> She projects in the direction of the armoured figure. << I'm not an enemy, I just want to talk! >> It has to be worth a try... More lightning flies upwards. It becomes apparent that the recently arrived alien was not the first. More like the sixth, assuming all the intruders are Thunderers. The Oans were right (as usual) it is a Qwardian invasion... or maybe a raid. That there are only six of them is strange. But three are giving cover the new arrival, trying to fry Rachel. Two more open fire on Jade. And just then there is another flash of light at the top of the pyramid, though. This time it delivers a tall, golden-skinned man with red eyes. Familiar to Rachel, but not to Jade, Adam takes a few seconds to calmly study the situation. And then one of the Qwardians tries to electrocute him too. Adam is forced to cast a shield to block one of the lightning blasts, but the lightning completely consumes his shield on impact. "Diplomacy skills are a good attempt!" Jennie calls out to Rachel, "But I don't think these guys know English." As the lightning strikes towards Jen, she already is prepared from their attack on Rachel. (The red-head's brashness was good for one thing, at the very least.) A tall green lightning rod has been situated above Jade's head, with green connections extending to the ground. If it acts like normal lightning, it should be conducted by the lightning rod, and directed harmlessly into the ground. In theory, at least, with normal lightning, this is what Jen's counting on. Naturally, that's simply not the case, as the strange energy completely ignores the lightning rod, and Jen's bubble of insulation explodes outwards in a flash of light. Can't get hit again, that much, Jen's quite sure of, her body sent reeling backwards by the force of her own bubble going boom. In front of the still reeling Jen, suddenly appear over two dozen, green burly men with energy weapons, which begin firing towards the location of the enemy. Distracted, unfortunately, Jen's gaze flips towards the golden skinned man, then back towards the bad guys. "Hope he's on our side, Ray!" The one time Rachel tries to be diplomatic, and this is the reaction she gets! Next time, she'll just hit first and apologise later, if need be! << Yeah, I'm getting that! Looks like your smurf guys were right! >> Rachel fires the thought back quickly, ducking behind some ancient, ornately carved stonework that's obliterated a moment later by the lightning strike that was meant for her. << OK, that's it...! >> Rachel says, mostly to herself, the persistent fire coming her way beginning to stoke her temper. Before she can retaliate, though, she catches the edge of Jade's shock as the lightning slams into her constructs. She looks upward, instinctively, and then ducks down as more of her meagre cover is obliterated. She misses the flash of light that heralds Adam's arrival, but Jade's call and the sudden sense of a familiar mind clue her in. << Adam! About time you got here! >> Rachel's telepathic call is more relieved than accusing, and then she opens out the connection to Jade as well. << He's with me! Don't get hit again, I can take these guys! >> With that declaration of possibly unwarranted confidence, Rachel gathers her powers and flies forward again, wrapping a telekinetic shield around herself as she goes on the offensive, hunting minds and sending a telepathic bolt toward any hostile thoughts she picks up. The sudden appearance of a dozens green light constructs draw some fire from the Thunderers, but not as much as expected. They have faced Green Lanterns before and know the usual tactics. Fortunately for Rachel telepathy is not something they have much experience. She nails one of the aliens with a blast. He is quite tough and willful, so it takes a few seconds to completely crush his mental defenses and knock him out. That gives a couple of his friends time to take aim and throw bolts at the red-clad woman. Meanwhile Adam is discovering his quantum magic is not very effective to shield him from the extra dimensional ‘Qwa’ energy of the Thunderers lightning. He is forced to seek cover from a barrage of blasts from one of the alien warriors. Fortunately for him, they consider Jade (obviously one of the hated Green Lanterns!) the most dangerous threat, and once Adam is out of the way, they stop paying attention to him. Adam takes advantage to transmit through the Passports: “Rachel, the rift has not formed yet, but the walls between dimensions are very thin and they are about to crack. These aliens must have been able to predict the event like we do and have sent an advanced force to secure this side of the rift. I need a minute to reinforce reality enough so the rift won’t open.” One bulky green man after another get hit by the bright, deadly energy, sending shards of green light to explode outwards with each strike. Distraction? Yeah, Jennie's doing that right now. Energy continues to flow through Jennie's palm, as she keeps herself surrounded by the bulky green Rambo's. "I'd have them yell ADRIAN! But not sure I can keep my concentration going much longer." At the very least, Jennie's keeping her sense of humor going. It's been a long time since she's had to expend this much energy, and it's starting to take its toll. "Looks like they're focused on me, Rachel, if you and your golden boy have any ideas, now is the time!" As one, after another, of her constructs fail, Jennie's putting one after another in its place, each one holding a massive green gun, that fire bright green bullets towards the small army. If Rachel's doing any scanning? Jennie's sweating bullets about as much as she's sending them down. Rachel ducks, despite her shield, when lightning arcing upwards is joined by bolts of green energy sheeting downwards. The sky is filling up fast! For a moment she wonders if another faction has joined the battle, just to spice things up a little more, but a quick mental scan confirms that Jade hasn't taken her advice, and she's responsible for the... Rambos?! Rachel snorts back a laugh at the sight, and focuses her attention back on her part of the battle. She can't crush minds if she's not concentrating! ...and there's one now. Rachel gets her mental claws in and /squeezes/ - and frowns as it takes a bit more effort than she expected to finish the job. She grits her teeth and smashes him down into darkness with a bit more effort. << One down. >> She sends to the others, her mental voice sounding self-satisfied, but then she cuts off abruptly as she gets a mental flash of two of the others lining up to shoot her down. It's too late to evade, so Rachel throws all her power into her shields - and is blasted back through a column in an explosion of stone chippings. Her shield holds - barely - and Rachel's left in a pile of debris as Adam's voice sounds through her comlink. << You'll get it. No problem. >> Rachel sends, sounding a lot shakier than she did a moment before, but then there's a red-gold glow and she's back in the fight. << See how you like it! >> She's not messing around any more - the architecture will just have to suffer. Two powerful telekinetic blots travel back toward the shooters. Whatever they hit is going to know about it. Risking a moment to take a breath, Rachel hears Jade - and with all her powers active, she feels the effort the other woman is having to put in to do what she's doing. << Adam's on it! We just need to cover him! >> Rachel calls back, already in motion, flying toward Adam to shield him - and methodically sending telekinetic bolts anywhere she sees lightning fire. The trio of Thunderers on Jade take turns at shooting at her, moving quickly to new positions afterwards. They are trying to find her position among the 'crowd' of soldier images. If she remains stationary, at one point they all switch to attack, sending a barrage of lightning through her 'army' trying to get her. Meanwhile two more go after Rachel. Perhaps too confident in their abilities, because when the redhead counter-attacks, she catches them by surprise and one of them is not quick enough to avoid the TK-blast. The alien warrior goes flying among a shower of shattered stone and hits a wall pretty hard. He was wearing some armor, but it is not enough to fully protect him, he is out of the fight due to several broken bones. "Hoookoay!" Is the offer that Jade gives to Rachel's mental thoughts filtering through. The redhead and the golden boy do seem to have their shit together, while Jade feels like a rookie in comparison. Case in point, it takes a couple shots from different directions to register that they're trying to locate /her/ and not just randomly shoot Rambos. Well. Duh. Of course they're intelligent and .. moving would be a really good idea about now. "Okay bitches, try eating the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man!" The three shooting Jade will get a really good look of a giant foot stomping down from yes, an enormous green, Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. While Jade moves with the speed given to her, and what remains of her energy, away from the blast of fire, and slumps to the ground behind a large column of rock, there her hand continues to glow. She needs a moment, and she hopes she'll get it. "Running on fumes and Ghostbusters, Red!" Rachel FEELS her TK bolt strike home and slam that Thunderer right out of the fight, and her grin is vicious. << That's two. >> The satisfaction is back, but this time it hasn't brought the complacency with it. Rachel does not want to get hit again - she's extended her shields to cover Adam, so they're thinner than she'd like. It's time to get creative. If nothing else, the battle has left a lot of shattered stone around the place, including some impressively sized chunks. Rachel picks up all of it in her immediate area and sets it whirling around her and Adam. She's just about visible as a blazing figure, hovering in the centre of it all, but with any luck it'll make them harder to target, and hopefully even block some shots before they reach her shields. "How's it coming, Adam?" She yells, the whirlwind of stone pretty noisy as it twists around them. Rachel catches sight of something big and green outside her makeshift defences, and takes a quick look through Jade's eyes. She's impressed - but more than anything she feels the woman's fatigue, even before she says anything. << Keep your head down for a minute! >> Rachel calls and - splitting her attention dangerously - she pelts the area Jade just stomped with liberal amounts of flying stone. If the bad guys stick their heads up, so much the better! The giant green thing looks like a serious threat to the Qwardians. They never get around seeing movies in the Negative Universe, or eat marshmallows. Maybe that is why they want to conquer Earth. Regardless, the pepper the construct with lighting, starting with the incoming foot, and shattering it to bits in a very throughout way. Now, where is that Green Lantern? “Find her and kill her!” Screams one of the aliens. He must be the boss, because he turns to get back to the pyramid and see what is going on. What is going on is the remaining alien warrior circling to attack Rachel from behind. Which is a valid tactic if he was able to hide his mind. But he is not that good of a ninja. “I need thirty more seconds,” comments Adam, tracing odd glyphs on the air with his hands, the glowing symbols vanishing after a second. “You realize that alien is sixteen yards at your five and about to attack, right?” He adds, just in case. "Keeping my head up a minute is going to be a challenge!" Offers Jade's response to Rachel, though she does as instructed and keeps her head low, watching with admiration at the power the red-head shows. Ah the poor Stay Puff, it would seem his lot in life is the same, exploding up just when he gets good and mad. Hearing the sound of what appears to be 'find her and kill her', Jade just sighs. Obviously they mean Rachel and not her, right? Or maybe they're not a fan of Ghostbusters or Rambo, or Stallone. How crude. Well, how about another great of the pop culture fame? Still hidden behind the column of stone, for now, Jennie's eyes glance towards the heavens, as she takes in a deep breath, and uses up what reserves she has left in her. "All right you Alien assholes, in the words of another generation - UP YOURS." The sky is filled with three enormous jade fighter jets, which barrel towards the enemy hunting her with exacting intent. Each of the jets open fire with laser guided missiles. The earth will scorch, but maybe it'll give golden boy and the powerhouse some extra time - just call her, Jade, distraction central. Rachel winces a bit at the yelling from the aliens. They REALLY don't like Jade, that much is clear. Rachel's just going to have to try harder to annoy them, is all! Having been inside Jade's mind a moment before, and knowing what it's costing her to stay in the fight, Rachel's surprised to see the green fighter jets form in the sky - but quickly she's grinning, fiercely. Jade obviously doesn't know when to stay down, and Rachel admires that. And that's why she needs Adam to remind her that she's about to be shot in the back. "I'd have got to him!" Rachel calls back, sounding a bit affronted, and doesn't try anything fancy with this one. Zeroing in on him with her mind, she narrows her eyes - and a telekinetic claw snatches him up and flings him into the night. "Is that going to be a long thirty seconds or a short thirty seconds?" Rachel asks, the green in her eyes fading to blank white as she draws deep on her powers, pinpointing Jade, then searching outward. Every time she scans an alien mind, a big chunk of rubble is sent flying in their direction. Now, the truth is the Thunderers were pretty sure Jade was low in power after they blew up the Marshmallow Man. Getting bombed by flying machines was not in the plan. One of them tries to shot the fighters down, and manages to destroy one. The other Thunderer runs for cover, but fails to get there in time. Lets just say the one Rachel threw to a wall ended up better than those two. "I think..." notes Adam, "it is going to be medium-long seconds. Only one of those aliens is still conscious." And Rachel is throwing large chunks of historically significant Pre-Columbian monuments at him. The Mexican government is not going to be happy about all this! "Yeah our side!" Is the fairly weak response from the green skinned chick, as she starts to stand, the world spins, and she abruptly falls right back down to the dirt. Her head settles against the ruined column, and with a low, careful breath, she finds that maybe standing up isn't exactly a good idea about now. "Stop the world from spinning any time now." Closing her eyes probably isn't the best idea, so she does so anyway, a brief flickering of eyelashes followed by a rush of air through her lungs. "I feel like a heavy rock about to sink into the ocean, Rachel. Not much good for a bit.." It's too bad things are such a ruined mess, really, but it's better that than an invasion army of more than six of those guys. Yikes. Jade might feel bad. Really, but in the end, she'll blame the smurfs and Ganthet and ... she really hopes she doesn't have to contact the Mexican Government over this. "That's only a problem if you want him to STAY conscious." Rachel tells Adam. With only one target left, Rachel lets the rubble - and herself - settle back to the ground. Still outlined in red-gold telekinetic fire, she begins walking forward, unhurriedly picking her way toward the last alien. Waiting for him to make his move. And when he does - she slams him back down with a psi-bolt. Eyes still blank and white hot, Rachel smiles, casting around to make sure he really was the last one, but then she hears Jade's cheer, and she makes herself let go of the power. Blinking eyes that are now green once more, Rachel takes a deep breath and starts walking again. Jade will hear the sound of the redhead's boots as they approach, and then she's leaning again Jade's column, probably looking disgustingly chipper. Apart from the dirt ground into her uniform from being blasted through that column, Rachel seems little the worse for wear. "Don't worry. Adam says we got them all. Now if he can close the rift before anything else comes through..." Rachel looks back toward where she left Adam, a little worriedly, "...we should be good." Rachel remains leaning against the column for a few more seconds, a crooked smile spreading across her features, before she pushes away from it and offers her hand to help Jade up. "Come on. You can't pass out after fighter jets and Rambo." Rachel's fairly insistent about getting Jade on her feet, and once that's accomplished she heads back toward Adam. She pauses after a couple of steps. "Damn. What a mess." She says as she surveys the damaged caused by their battle. Rachel stretches out her arms, and there's a shifting of stone as columns are set upright once more, and fallen walls set to rights. There's still going to be a tremendous amount of cleaning up required, but Rachel does what she can. “Conscious? Not particularly,” it was a rhetoric question or statement anyway. And when the thirty seconds are over, Adam finishes the spell just as the chief Thunderer gets knocked out. The golden skinned wizard takes a look around and... yes, quite a mess. And they didn’t even bring Rocket this time. “It would have been far worse if we had arrived an hour later,” he comments. While Rachel goes to help Jade, Adam finds the remains of the security guards of the ruined city, killed by the Thunderers before Jade and Rachel got to the city. He says nothing about it, but he wasn’t going to tell Rachel killing is ‘wrong’ and she used excessive force, anyway. They are not dealing with bank robbers or gang members. They just stopped an alien invasion in its first stage. Tilting her head up to view the ever too chipper red-head, Jade has an initial sensation to tweak Rachel's nose for being so upbeat and not tired. In fact, Rachel appears, in Jen's eyes, to not even have a hair askew. Collecting the hand up, Jennie-Lynn rises to her feet, a bit wobbly, and exhausted, but none the worse for wear. "I admit, the fighter jets were a bit much." She offers as her gaze flickers about the ruined remains, watching as Rachel fixes what she can. "But can you even imagine more than what was that? Six of those guys? Good grief." One hand lifts upwards to rub her eyes then pinch the bridge of her nose. The hand falls to her side again as she keeps in step with Rachel. "I don't want to think about that." "Mighty glad you and your ally were here." Jennie continues, "I'd have been annihilated." Rachel grimaces as she looks around at even-more-ruined ruins. She's no archaeologist, if she keeps up he telekinetic rebuilding efforts she's just going to cause more trouble for the eventual clean up crew. Reluctantly, she drops her arms to her sides and the rubble stops shifting about around her. Just looking at the damage is enough for her to nod in rueful agreement with Jade. "Six was enough." Rachel says, as she resumes walking back towards Adam, shaking herself out of her darkening thoughts and mustering a quick grin for Jade. "Hey, they'd have shot me out of the sky while I was still trying to tell them I came in peace. I'm glad I wasn't alone." As she takes the last few steps to rejoin Adam, Rachel seems suddenly amused. "Oh, and he's less my ally and more my boss." She smirks. "I think he thinks he is, anway." She said all that in an undertone, and raises her voice again as she provides introductions. "Jade? Meet Adam Warlock. Adam? Everything OK now?" “They didn’t come in peace,” states Adam, joining the two young woman. “Before we arrived they had already killed every human being in the area.” He looks at Rachel and arches an eyebrow. “I prefer to think I am your guide in our task, not your boss. Jade... not a Green Lantern, they were wrong. Good to meet you, nevertheless. Without you here we could have died.” A wry grin is offered to Rachel, though any response Jennie may give is halted when her hand extends in greeting towards Adam Warlock. "I should have that on my business card, Jade, not a Green Lantern." The teasing tone is offered with a wide grin, as Jennie tilts her head to one side. "It's a pleasure to meet you both. When Ganthet and the blue sm.. ahh.. Oans asked me for help, I figured something quick and easy; far from the case. So do these things.." Jade gestures around, "Rifts I think I heard you call them. Do they happen often?" The smirk drops right off Rachel's face when Adam matter of factly mentions the deaths they didn't manage to prevent. Suddenly this feels less like a victory. The property damage was one thing, the lost lives another. Rachel's expression closes up, and she suddenly doesn't feel much like bantering with Adam about their respective roles. "Guide. Sure. Got it." She says, and hangs back a bit while Adam and Jade compare notes, only rousing herself again when Jade asks about the rifts. "Adam's the expert. But... yes. The way he tells it, time and space is damaged." She shrugs. "This is the result." You can always count with Adam to pop all happy bubbles, right? "There was a major invasion from the Negative Zone roughly two years ago." He explains, "extensive damage to space-time has made tears to other times and dimensions more likely, sometimes bringing dangerous anomalous matter to our reality. Often they lead to dangerous places, giving invaders a way into our universe. But the main danger is that if they are left unchecked, they could cause a complete collapse or reality. We are part of a group that is struggling to prevent the rifts." Listening intently to everything both Rachel and Adam have to say, Jennie lets out low whistle, "That sounds bad." The understatement of the moment. Jen's gaze flickers out of the corner of her eye to the suddenly quiet and subdued redhead. A brief furrowing of Jen's brows given, before she shifts her attention back to Adam. "I'm not a Green Lantern, but I do, occasionally, get called in by small blue guys of extraordinary power. With that being said, if you and your allies ever need me, hey, I'm happy to help. The collapse of reality as we know it is something I'd like to help prevent." A wry grin, good natured appears, before Jennie lets it slip to a more professional expression, or at least she tries. Really, this was exciting, and Jennie can't help but feel a thrill by it all. Rachel snorts quietly at Jade's understatement. "You could say that." Still, she's been dragged at least a little way out of her dark thoughts once more. Being reminded of the stakes helps. Not enough, but it helps, and Rachel now seems to be following the conversation more closely, rather than being lost in her own musings. As Jade volunteers her services, Rachel turns to look at Adam, and shrugs again. "You know we could use her. She gets my vote." Rachel looks across at Jade and despite herself she grins, a bit. Jade's enthusiasm seems to be contagious. "I'd say be sure you know what you're signing up for, but hell, I still don't most of the time." “The Oans call you for aid?” Adam seems impressed. “They have a reputation for not trusting much anyone but their emerald warriors. Much less magic-users. You must have done them some great service.” Woah, Rachel is quick with the recruiting. Jade must have caused a strong impression on the redhead. That is on itself almost amusing. “She gets your vote, hmm? Maybe you should take her to Knowhere and have her meet Cosmo and some of the others,” and learn a little more about her and her relationship with the Oans. He lets the redhead catch that thought. Rubbing the back of her neck, Jade admits, "It's ... complicated." Between her and the Oans, still, the emerald heroine does offer a grin towards Rachel. "Is Cosmo the telepathic Russian space dog you mentioned?" It certain sounds Russian. Jen is going to assume Knowhere is a code, so just slowly nods. Take her to Knowhere. It sounds so secretive, so mysterious. Knowhere. Mentally, Jennie repeats the words a few times, before offering a wry grin to both. She can't help it, she's just geeked to be here. "The names Jennie-Lynn Hayden, I am in the phone book in New York City, so call me up any time." A twinkle to her jade eyes, before an aura of that same, dark green surrounds the petit figure. Jennie's lifting herself into the air then, as a rocket forms around her figure. A cheeky wave is given from the cock pit window, before the rocket takes off with a burst of energy. "That's him." Rachel confirms, almost sounding cheerful. It's hard to be morose when you're talking about Cosmo, after all. Hearing the amusement in Adam's voice, Rachel glances over at him. << She's powerful, she's on our side, and she deals with this stuff better than I do. What's not to like? >> She puts the words just into Adam's head alone, at the same time she's saying, "Sure." Rachel turns back to Jade with a smirk tugging at her lips. "You'll like Knowhere. It's an experience." She's not giving any more details than that, and waves as Jade blasts off. She remains where she is for a moment or two, looking upward in silence, then finally turns her head to look at Adam. "I'll see what I can find out." She says, confirming that she did, indeed, skim that instruction from his mind, but then she sighs. "Adam? Just... tell me we won, tonight?" “We won,” replies Adam. “Had not been here to prevent it, a rift to a very... dark universe would have opened. That the Oans sent someone means it is a place even they consider a major threat and they are watching it. Most like we prevented a devastating invasion, Rachel. I will take these aliens to the Peak and I’ll find out what Commander Brand and Cosmo know about them.” Category:Log